Olympic Socks, Alpaca Mittens

Ah, yes, the Olympics. I freely admit that didn't watch much of it, except for the opening ceremonies and the semifinal Canada vs USA mens' hockey game, and those were because it was Fridays and I was at my Friday fiber group get-together. Of course during the opening ceremonies we all ogled the various mittens, hats, and other knits the athletes were sporting. I'm just mildly annoyed that I couldn't find a decent picture of the Estonian team's mittens online afterwards, since they looked very nice...

But I did make an effort for the concurrent Ravellenic Games, and polished off not only that baby sweater with alpacas on the yoke, but my Alpha Socks. It was about time - my Rav page listed them as having been cast on just over 2 years previously!

Now I have to be heroic and not wear them until next fall, since I want to save them to enter in the local fair next August.

The other project which has gotten finished this week is this pair of mittens. These are the ones I've been designing as a counterpart to the dyeing classes I taught last summer at L'Ourse Qui Danse. Chantal of OQD has been testing the pattern, and I think it's about ready to go. So with any luck it will be up on Rav as well as available at L'Ourse Qui Danse in the next week or so.

I have to say they're a great knit to use up small amounts of yarn - I knit them in 5 colours because that's the number of samples each dye class produces, but you could technically use up to 20 colours if you felt inclined to. The only drawback is - you guessed it - weaving in ends. Whether it's 5 or 20 colours, you will still have something like 80 ends to deal with. Ah, well. Cuppa tea and something on the telly, and it goes pretty fast!

Lambs and Llama

The baby sweater is done! Or at least as done as it can be for now. I went looking for buttons while it was blocking, and found (aargh!) that I don't have enough of any one type of button in stash that would work. So they get postponed until I can check my mother's button boxes as well. But I think I like the way blue buttons would look:

It seemed like it took the sweater forever to dry, presumably because I was waiting until after it was blocked to embroider the sheep's faces. So I started on my second Ravellenics project while I was waiting.

More handspun from the Tour de Fleece. Fiber from Bertha's llama, and it's going to turn into the Arcadia shawl - or at least a modified version. I know there's not enough spun to knit the shawl as written, but the original is quite long, so I'm making a shorter version. At the rate it's going, I should be on the edging by tonight...

Moving Along

Not a lot of excitement going on, but some progress.

The baby sweater is knitting up relatively fast, especially once I hit the plain knitting which doesn't require counting or looking at how the picture's coming along every few rows. I've just started the ribbing at the bottom, then it will only be the sleeves and buttonbands (and a bit of embroidery) to do. And it looks like I will have plenty of yarn left over to do a matching hat and booties (although I will leave those until later, I think, and tackle my other Ravellenic projects first).

And all testers from the Trickle scarf have reported back, with no serious issues, so I think I will try and get that finalized (and maybe posted) today. About time I got another pattern finished off.

And They're Off

Yesterday afternoon was the Olympic opening ceremonies, and the official cast-on for those of us playing along with the Ravellenic Games. I didn't watch anything (the TV is old and I didn't bother with getting a box at the digital switch-over last year, so it's there for movies only), but I get to hear about the highlights on the 'net. Daniel Bond, the Queen, and Mr. Bean, eh? Very Brit.
I cast on for the baby sweater for my first project. I'm partway done the yoke now, and it's going to be so flippin' cute!

Not to mention soft and squooshy. I think it'll knit up fast, once I get past the yoke and I'm not pausing every row to look at it...

Weight-lifting and rowing are not usually sports I keep track of at the Games, but I will be trying this year, since there is someone from my hometown area in each of those. It would be pretty cool if one (or both) brought a medal back to our little corner of the country.

I'm going Brit a little with the movies to watch while knitting, it seems, even if I'm not watching the Games. Last night was Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Ruddigore', and today I'm planning to indulge a desire to rewatch the BBC version of 'Pride and Prejudice'. Somehow, I don't get tired of it, even if this will be the third time in 6 months.